AruAni One-shots
by Miss Reverie
Summary: Collection of my Aruani one-shots. I usually upload them to my tumblr account but I figured I could put them here for people who don't use tumblr to read. These one-shots vary from being set in the canon SNK universe to AUs. Fluff mostly for now.
1. Birthday Cake

**A/N: I wrote this for Armin's birthday**

* * *

"Annie, what are you doing?" Reiner, Annie's big and muscular friend entered the kitchen. Her back was to him as she rolled her eyes and gritted her teeth.

"Nothing, get out of here"

Reiner observed the state of the kitchen, out on the table in front of the small blonde girl was eggs, flour, sugar, butter and all other necessary ingredients for baking. The flour had got all over the place and there were several bowls and trays left lying around with remnants of mixture, obviously from where Annie had gone wrong.

"Are you baking? Seriously, _you_, Annie Leonhardt…_baking_!?" Reiner couldn't suppress his laughter. He even considered going and getting his phone to take a picture of this.

Annie swirled around and shot him a fierce glare "So what is it to you!? Leave me be" she felt a faint blush creep onto her cheeks and turned around again. She was embarrassed that she was baking, because it wasn't something she would normally be caught doing. She was never the affectionate type, but she really wanted to do this for Armin, to show how much she cared. Annie continued to mix the eggs and began to feel stressed; it didn't look right. Nothing was going to plan. Reiner wasn't helping either.

"I can't believe this! You can't cook to save your life!" Reiner exaggerated his laughter and bent over while clutching his stomach, all to poke fun at the little blonde.

"Reiner, if you don't get out of here, so help me god…" Annie was almost at breaking point and Reiner was severely testing her patience, she already had little to begin with, anyway. The blonde had been slaving away in the kitchen for god only knew how many hours, all for nothing. Every single cake she had produced had turned out to be inedible and at this rate, she was going to give Armin food poisoning. How tragic would it be if she gave him a cake so bad on his birthday that it ended up killing him?

"What's all this for? And is that an apron you're wearing?" Yes, Annie was wearing a pink apron over her white hoodie. For some reason, it was the only apron in the apartment that she could find, despite the fact that she never cooked. That meant it either belonged to Reiner or Bertholdt.

Annie remained silent and continued whisking the eggs, praying that this time around, it would turn out to be successful. The clock was ticking and Annie could feel herself slowly cracking under the pressure. Armin was going to be here soon.

From the corner of his eye, Reiner caught a glimpse out of the window and saw a beautiful shower of golden brown autumn leaves fall from a nearby tree, he then looked to the calendar on the fridge and saw that it was the 3rd of November. It was then that it registered with him "Oh how sweet, it's your boyfriend's birthday today, isn't it? You're making him a cake," Reiner approached Annie from behind and placed both hands on her shoulders, "And failing miserably at it" he added teasingly.

Annie aggressively shook Reiner's hands from her shoulders and turned around. She raised her voice as she spoke "Yes, I'm baking a stupid cake and he's going to be here anytime soon, so get the hell out so I can finish it." At that moment, Bertholdt entered the kitchen.

"What's all the ruckus?" he asked quietly, wondering what on earth was going on. The kitchen looked like a bomb had hit it.

"Annie's making her boyfriend a birthday cake" Reiner explained before she could open her mouth

"That's so cute" Bertholdt smiled

"Urgh! Just get out! Both of you! You're not helping!"

"Fine, fine" Reiner smiled and began to exit the kitchen

"Good luck, Annie" Bertholdt added before he left the room along with Reiner.

_Finally. _Annie looked down at the mess below her, the cake mixture looked awfully lumpy and wasn't the right colour. She felt like crying in frustration. _Why is something as simple as making a birthday cake turning out to be so difficult!? _Annie felt her nose itch and brought her hand to it, the blonde let out a sigh and figured that this would have to do for now otherwise it wouldn't be ready in time for Armin's arrival.

After sticking it into the oven, Annie got to work on cleaning up all the mess she made. She had little time to make herself look presentable for her boyfriend. Somehow, she ended up getting carried away with the washing up because the unpleasant smell of something burning caught her by surprise. _Hell, no_. The blonde rushed to the oven, grabbed a towel, and pulled out the cake which was undeniably burnt. At least the smoke alarm wasn't going off. "No…this can't be happening…" Annie muttered. The cake looked awful. She had the sudden urge to kick something in frustration, but held back from doing so. A few seconds later she heard the doorbell. "Crap, he's here."

The blonde put the cake to the side and went to answer the door. Her boyfriend Armin, a boy with blue eyes, blond hair and a slim frame stood at the door. Although he was quite small himself, he was still taller than her. Armin grinned and embraced her as he usually did upon greeting her. After several moments of hugging, Armin pulled back.

The blond boy chuckled as he noticed something out of place "You're so cute, you have flour on your nose" he brought a gentle finger to her nose and wiped it away, Annie's usually pale cheeks flushed red at his touch.

"Happy birthday…" it came out sounding blunter than she had intended. Annie wasn't outgoing in the slightest, nor did she have good social skills. Despite this, she really wanted to show that she cared for Armin. She deeply cared for the boy, more than she had ever cared for anyone in her life. That's why she had spent the whole morning trying to bake him a cake. It wouldn't even cross her mind to do that for anybody else, firstly because she detested cooking, and secondly because she was terrible at it.

"Thanks!" Armin followed behind her as she walked into the kitchen. It was evident by the flour on her nose and the apron that she had been baking and when Armin's blue eyes fell upon the cake resting on the counter, he couldn't help but smile. It looked terrible, but it didn't matter.

"I um…I made you a cake…" Annie diverted her gaze away from Armin out of pure embarrassment. She couldn't even produce a decent looking cake for her boyfriends' birthday, she had totally failed.

"Thank you so much, Annie" Armin's heart felt overwhelmed with joy. He knew Annie didn't cook, and yet, she had gone out of her way to make him a cake. He also appreciated how freaking adorable she looked in that pink apron.

"Yeah, whatever… I hope you won't die from it…" she mumbled, standing with her arm resting under her chest. Her pale blues eyes remained focussed on the chair at the table rather than on her boyfriend.

Armin came closer to the short blonde girl and placed a hand under her chin, he propped her head upwards so that she was looking up at him. Annie couldn't hide her surprise at his gesture and stared straight into his deep ocean-blue eyes. Armin placed his lips onto her soft pink ones and kissed her. They kissed for several moments and then Armin parted to speak, "Annie, I love you, I love you so much! I don't care how the cake tastes or how it looks. It's the thought that counts"

Annie blinked and after several seconds she smiled, "Well do you want to try it?" Armin nodded of course.

The blond went and sat at the table while Annie cut off a slice. She handed him a plate and sat opposite him, watching him intensely as he took a bite. Armin chewed for a few moments, trying to ignore how vile it was. He watched Annie's facial expression change from apprehension to embarrassment.

"That was the best birthday cake I've ever had" Armin exclaimed after swallowing it. He had a huge, genuine, smile on his face because in a sense, he really did mean what he said.

"Really…?" Annie raised an eyebrow sceptically. He was surely lying, wasn't he?

"H-hey, don't look at me like that. It really was, it's because _you_ made it"

Annie felt herself blush "Don't be so sappy" she mumbled but couldn't stop her lips from curving up into a smile

Armin grinned and then moments later Reiner poked his head around the door. "Oh, happy birthday Armin!" he glanced at the cake and saw that the short blond boy had already eaten a piece "You didn't _really_ eat it did you? Just in case, we'll be keeping an ambulance on standby!"

"Reiner!" Annie growled in annoyance and nearly went to throttle him but stopped herself. Armin just laughed along with the larger male.

Even though the cake tasted awful, Armin was happy and he knew that he wanted to spend the rest of his birthdays eating Annie's cakes. Who knew, with any luck she may even improve her baking skills over time. He'd probably have to wait until his fiftieth birthday before he got a decent tasting one, though.


	2. First Kiss Troubles

"Annie…" Armin breathed, he was sweating and his face was flushed. He'd decided to take a break from the training, it was wearing him out. He knew that it was probably a bad idea to skip out, because he, more than anyone else needed to gain his strength. But, after all, he _had_ promised Annie that he would meet her. Of course she was slacking off again; it was a regular occurrence. Not that it really mattered because she already had enough skill and really didn't need the practise.

Annie's pale blue eyes had shot up from the book in her hands at the sound of Armin's voice, "So, you came after all" she stated nonchalantly but inside she was more than happy to see him. Annie stared at his flushed face and thought what a wonderful sight it was, the blonde then beckoned Armin to take a seat beside her. Their current location was at the back of a building not far from the training grounds.

"Of course, I promised you, didn't I?" Armin smiled and sat closely beside her. His breathing was still rather erratic, and Annie felt her heart race just a little as he sat down, they were so close that he was brushing against her shoulder.

They had been meeting here regularly for several weeks, now. It had all started the day Armin had been injured during hand-to-hand combat practise, and had to sit out. He happened to cross paths with the stoic blonde while she had been slacking off. The two had somehow found themselves sitting together and talking for what seemed like hours. Armin had been surprised; he hadn't realised how fun Annie's company was until that day. She had always been so quiet and cold, and if he was going to be true to himself, he found her to be quite intimidating. However, that day had been different. He had seen another side to her; he had seen her smile and heard her laugh. Armin had felt beyond flattered that Annie had opened up to him because he doubted anyone else had seen this side of her.

That day, Annie had felt feelings brew within her; feelings she had never experienced before. The blonde hadn't paid much attention to Armin before then; he was always in the background and was easily shadowed by the louder personalities such as Eren Jaeger. The only time she had noticed him was during theoretical classes when he had out shone everyone with his intelligence. The girl couldn't lie to herself and say she wasn't impressed. After actually speaking with Armin though, she soon found him to be the most interesting person she had ever met. He was different from all the other males in the academy. He was much sweeter and he had so much to talk about and an endless amount of knowledge, she just couldn't ever imagine herself to be bored around the boy.

"Well, here's your book back." Armin had let her borrow it a few days ago to keep her from being bored while she was skipped out on training.

The blond boy took it from her hands, his breathing finally returning to normal. "Thanks. Did it keep you entertained?"

"Hmm," Annie nodded and her eyes diverted their gaze away from Armin, "I'd much rather have your company, though" her voice was quiet as if she was embarrassed by what she had said, and even her usually porcelain white face tinged pink.

"Has anyone ever told you how cute you are?" Armin smiled at the girl and she turned to face him sharply, her eyes widened ever so slightly and then she frowned, though her face had become even redder.

"No…" she mumbled quietly and turned away again.

"Oh…well that's a shame because it's true" Annie could have sworn Armin just got slightly closer to her.

She dared herself to turn and look at him again, and when she did she was shocked to find his face just centimetres from his. Annie's heart raced and she found herself blushing again.

Armin's own heart was hammering against his chest as he anticipated his next move. He swallowed hard and then slowly he moved in closer and closer. Annie knew what was about to happen and her eyes fluttered shut, waiting for the moment when their lips would connect.

Armin closed his eyes just before his mouth was going to come into contact with Annie's, excitement and anxiousness bubbling inside of him as he was about to share his first kiss.

Their lips did not meet however, instead Armin bashed into her nose, which completely blocked access to her lips. His eyes shot open and face turned beet red as he stared into her angry eyes.

"Armin…you messed up" Annie was glaring and her face was about as red as his. She was mortified, he was smart wasn't he? Hadn't he realised that her nose was going to be a problem? Obviously not. The blonde stood up abruptly and walked off, leaving Armin to suffer in shame.

The small blond boy was left frozen in the spot from the pure embarrassment of what had just happened and felt like a complete fool. His first kiss was a complete and utter disaster. Well, he hadn't even got to kiss her…_Why didn't I contemplate her nose!? I'm such an idiot…_

"Maybe next time" Armin muttered to himself.


	3. Smoking

"You shouldn't smoke, you know" a soft voice snapped Annie away from her calming thoughts and sent a wave of irritation flooding over her. She turned to the source of the voice, and there stood Armin Arlert. He shared some of her classes and was a total nerd, but a brilliant genius. The blonde girl had secretly always thought of him as quite cute and endearing, not that she ever admitted this to anyone but herself. Annie took another puff of the cigarette and then spoke,

"What are you doing here?" there was a scowl on the girl's face. She was clearly annoyed by what he had said.

"Um, well I was just passing by." Armin paused, a blush slowly creeping onto his cheeks. He didn't really know what he was doing behind the school building. He guessed he had followed her, wondering where she was sneaking off to this time. For quite some time now he had been watching her. She was so intriguing and mysterious. She was also one of the most attractive girls he had ever met, but he couldn't help but feel intimidated by her. "But really, you should cut it out. Smoking is responsible for many life threatening diseases such as lung cancer and heart disease. You don't want to end up suffering from those, do you?"

Annie's blue eyes looked as uninterested as ever. She inhaled the cigarette again, without saying a word.

"The tobacco smoke you're inhaling contains carbon monoxide which is a poisonous gas. The body actually finds it hard to differentiate carbon monoxide from oxygen and therefore it's absorbed into your bloodstream. Tar is the worst though, it consists of many cancer-causing chemicals, and around seventy percent of the tar remains in your lungs—"

Annie walked up to the blond boy and stood so close to his face that she was almost brushing against him, her pale blue eyes looked up into his, and Armin was rendered speechless. His heart immediately began to race,

"What are you…a walking text book?" Annie had only wanted a little peace and quiet; smoking always did the trick to calm her down from a stressful day at school. The day wasn't even over yet, and she still had four more classes to get through. Thanks to the nerd showing up out of the blue to disturb her peace and lecture her about smoking she was feeling the complete opposite of calm, and could feel her blood pressure going up by the second.

In response to her question, Armin only smiled and shook his head, not really realising at that moment she wasn't being serious. Before he could open his mouth to speak again, Annie had taken another puff of the cigarette and blew the smoke right in his face "Beat it" there was a sharp edge to her tone.

Armin blinked several times and then slammed his eyes shut in reaction to the stinging sensation the smoke had caused. He began to cough violently and brought a hand to cover his mouth. He couldn't say he wasn't shocked by her action. Then again, this was Annie Leonhardt he was dealing with.

The blonde girl simply rolled her eyes and threw the cigarette to the ground, stamping on it with one foot to make sure it was out. When Armin continued to cough, Annie felt a pang of guilt. _Shit. _Hesitantly, she brought herself to make sure that he was alright; "Are you okay…?" her voice was quiet.

"I'm f-fine" Armin responded, the hand that was over his mouth muffled the sound of his voice but she understood. After several moments, he recovered completely.

"Good…" there was a moment of awkward silence, "Next time, you should just mind your own business. It's not like you're my father or anything…" Annie mumbled and then proceeded to walk off.

Annie brushed past Armin as she left; the blond wasn't put out by her behaviour. He'd get her to stop this act one way or the other.

* * *

The following day, Armin found Annie at the same place. She was smoking again of course, much to his dismay. When Annie saw the blond, she frowned.

"Come to give me another lecture?" she scoffed.

Armin had realised that going down the scientific root was futile with Annie. So instead, he tried a different tactic,

"Smoking is really unattractive…" he stated innocently. Little did he know how this was about to backfire,

Annie suddenly glared at him, her harsh blue eyes piercing right through his soul. She looked pretty furious, "Like I care if _you _find me attractive or not, or anyone for that matter." She rebutted and turned her head away from him.

"I-I mean, I don't find _you_ unattractive. In fact, I find you very attractive…" Armin rushed out and blushed crimson, "Uh….I mean…"

The blonde girl turned to face him again, "What's your deal with me!?"

"Huh? Oh…I just, c-care about you I guess. I-I don't want you to destroy yourself." The boy looked down to his feet, bracing himself for her to lash out at him again.

"Why do you care about me, Armin?" Annie's eyes narrowed as she approached him.

Armin felt his heart beat escalate as she got closer, he looked down at her with a red face and swallowed a lump in his throat, "I… like you"

Annie looked surprised for a second and inhaled the cigarette again, but this time turned away from his face to exhale, "Really…?" she asked as she looked at him in the face.

Armin nodded, "I want you to realise how bad smoking really is. Please don't do this to yourself."

For a brief moment, Annie's blank eyes stared directly into Armin's and she felt her stomach flutter, a feeling alien to her growing inside.

"Have you even tried a smoke?" she suddenly asked.

"No, of course not."

"Well if you had, you would understand why I do." With that, she took one last puff, threw it to the ground, and walked away.

* * *

Armin felt a frustrated and embarrassed to say the least. He gave it a few days, and then decided to go to the usual place to find the blonde. Lo and behold, she stood leaning against the back of the building, a cigarette held in between her slender fingers. When she noticed Armin, she didn't say anything, her eyes remained blank. However, she did feel a strange feeling flurry inside of her at the sight of the boy. She wondered why he was so persistent.

Armin hesitated for a second before he opened his mouth, "I'll t-try it." He suddenly announced, which caught the blonde off guard. Her eyes widened for a moment and she raised her eyebrows,

"You'll what?"

"Give me a smoke" Armin demanded and his brows furrowed in determination. He figured he would experience it, to understand Annie better. Afterwards, he would still condemn it, but at least he could say that he tried.

"Armin you coughed like an old man when I blew smoke into your face, if you were to actually smoke one of these things, you'd die." Annie dead-panned,

"I know but, you asked me before if I had tried. You said if I had, I would know why you did it."

Annie rolled her eyes, "It calms me, okay?"

"Calms you? That's a very maladaptive way of going about it. I guess it must be the nicotine—"

"Oh shut up, Armin." Annie sighed, "I know it is. I don't have any other methods though."

Armin looked sad for a moment and pondered on what was the best thing to say, "You should try reading, it really helps. I get so distracted by the book that I forget about anything else…"

"I'm not like you." Annie scowled at him but then it softened, "Thanks, though." She said almost inaudibly and Armin's puppy like eyes widened a little,

The boy shook his head, "It's nothing. I just wish you could stop…"

Suddenly Annie had an idea. Her lips curved into a small smirk and she looked to him, "Kiss me" she announced and watched as his face flushed red.

"W-what?" he uttered, wondering where the request had come from.

"I said, kiss me. Maybe it will help calm me down, you never know…" Annie stubbed the cigarette out against the wall and the butt felt to the ground. She approached him pretty quickly and came to a stop in front of him. Her crystal coloured eyes looked up into his ocean blue and she waited.

"A-Annie….I…." Armin stared down at her, his mind racing. Maybe this really could work? If he got it right. The boy felt the temperature of his face rise even further and his palms became sweaty as he stared at her pink lips.

"Come on Armin, you wanted me to stop smoking…were you lying when you said you found me attractive the other day?" Armin could not tell whether she was playing hurt or actually hurt, either way he was quick to put himself straight,

"N-no of course I wasn't lying. I think you're beautiful." He watched as her pale cheeks tinged pink at the statement,

"Well then, kiss me."

"O-okay" Armin's voice shook and he felt his heart hammering against his chest. He had never kissed a girl before and he prayed to the gods that he would do it right. As he moved closer, the blond boy scrunched his eyes closed and his lips met Annie's within seconds. He found them to be unbelievably soft, and fortunately a strong minty taste completely overwhelmed the traces of smoke. Annie worked her lips rhythmically against his, watching his face intensely.

She was thoroughly enjoying this, his taste and smell and the feel of his lips glazing over hers with delicate movements was doing the opposite of calming her down, and was causing her to become extremely excited. Her heart was racing and that excited and nervous feeling was _better_ than feeling boringly calm. She knew she could easily replace her habit of smoking with kissing Armin, if it was going to feel this good.

When they finally broke a part, both their faces were heavily flushed. Armin stared at her in awe and amazement. He was pretty speechless at that point though, and so he remained silent until she spoke up,

"I'll quit smoking if we can kiss again like that", a rare smile formed on Annie's face.

"Is that all it takes?" Armin beamed with a grin on his face.

"You're a good kisser, and I've always found you cute." Annie stated calmly, but her cheeks remained slightly pinkish in comparison to her usual pale complexion.

"I am? You did?" Armin's face blushed crimson again.

Annie simply nodded, "Yeah, well I'll catch you later." At that, the short blonde walked off, leaving Armin standing there in a state of disbelief.

He had always thought she was a bit of a strange girl, who knew it would take just a kiss from him to get her to stop smoking? Yes, she was strange and mysterious, but undeniably the hottest girl in the whole school and Armin found himself smiling giddily with the knowledge that he'd be kissing her again.


End file.
